Sandy Balloon Festival - A Short Notice Photowalk

With less than 24 hours notice a Photowalk of the Sandy Balloon festival (August 13, 2011) was announced on the Photowalking Utah flickr group message board.  I took the family and we planned on making a nice evening of some cool sights and entertaining tunes from "Cold Creek" who were performing on a stage set up between the two fields that would house the Hot air Balloons as they did an evening "glow." A wildfire burned on a not so distant mountainside, and a storm was blowing in from the south, as we walked over to the promenade we saw the band warming up. [caption id="attachment_516" align="aligncenter" width="800" caption="Cold Creek warming up for the concert"][/caption] After setting up I did a little "people photography" of a few of our fellow spectators. [caption id="attachment_520" align="aligncenter" width="800" caption="Stars!"][/caption] I love this one, mostly because I saw it coming, I wish I'd had a better angle but I like how it turned out anyways. [caption id="attachment_523" align="aligncenter" width="800" caption="Puppy Love"][/caption] Another shot of the band warming up. [caption id="attachment_524" align="aligncenter" width="624" caption="Cold Creek still warming up, Ryan Shupe of the Ryan Shupe & The Rubberband  is on the right with the violin, he filled in for a missing band member."][/caption] And possibly my favorite from the evening. [caption id="attachment_525" align="aligncenter" width="800" caption="In the grass"][/caption] Photowalkers started to trickle in, and I ended up chatting with a photographer that I greatly admire Scott Stringham.(seriously check out his work, he's insanely good) Eventually we ended up meeting with the other photowalkers and took a group shot (still not posted on the groups flickr page) Immediately after the group photo the balloons started to "glow" and we all scattered and scrambled to start taking pictures. [caption id="attachment_517" align="aligncenter" width="663" caption="The First Balloon - HDR"][/caption] Notice all those clouds? It was darkening quickly as the cold front moved in. So I moved in for some close ups. [caption id="attachment_535" align="aligncenter" width="641" caption="Boys are drawn to fire like a moth to .....ummmm.... a flame"][/caption] [caption id="attachment_529" align="aligncenter" width="800" caption=""Whoah!"   I love the expression and the bonus LCD capture. You could feel the heat, that little guy was toasty hot I'm sure."][/caption] Even closer: [caption id="attachment_530" align="aligncenter" width="575" caption="3 exp HDR handheld"][/caption] [caption id="attachment_531" align="aligncenter" width="800" caption=""Still closer" 3 exp HDR - handheld, I like the 2nd pilot light"][/caption] The second balloon soon followed. [caption id="attachment_532" align="aligncenter" width="800" caption="Two balloons at sunset 3 exp HDR - handheld"][/caption] The third balloon to get fully inflated was a fun "Pig" representing a piggy bank based on an ad campaign to help Utah save money. [caption id="attachment_528" align="aligncenter" width="800" caption="You make me feel all warm inside..."][/caption] [caption id="attachment_534" align="aligncenter" width="800" caption="This little piggy went to Sandy... 3exp HDR - handheld"][/caption] [caption id="attachment_533" align="aligncenter" width="800" caption="dual glows"][/caption] Very soon after this shot the balloons started to de-flate and no more than a minute later the wind started to gust past 30 mph so big kudos to the organizers for letting us see the balloons and for keeping us all safe by calling it off in the nick of time. It was a short but fun photowalk and I'm glad I was able to get there and to share it with my family. It gives me some ideas for the next time I have a chance to shoot balloons. Hopefully the weather will cooperate better and I'll have some better shots. Thanks as always for looking I truly appreciate every visit and comment. Next week (hopefully) is another photowalk. Happy Shooting!